Gail Devers: 'A girl asked what was wrong with me. She said I looked like a monster'

Her hair fell out, her skin hung off her face and then, when she began radiation therapy for a thyroid disease, the American sprinter was told she might lose her feet. Within two years she was back and winning Olympic gold

In February 1991, I was rushed to hospital in Los Angeles to have my feet amputated. Three years earlier I had broken the national 100 metres hurdles record while a student at UCLA and was a favourite for the event at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Now, my life was in danger. While receiving radiation treatment for a thyroid illness, I had refused to take beta-blockers - a medication that would have eased its side effects - because they were deemed illegal by the sport's governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations. My doctor had told the IAAF: 'This is a matter of life and death.' But the IAAF said: 'If she takes them and is tested, Gail will be banned.'

The nightmare had started as I trained for the 1988 Seoul Olympics. I began suffering mild hair loss and felt lethargic, and my weight dipped below 87 pounds. When I arrived in Seoul in September, I was eliminated in the semi-finals. I had not run as slowly since high school. The doctors had told me before those Games that my problems were caused by preparing too hard. But now my condition became even worse. I was shedding clumps of hair. My nails would not grow. Most of the skin fell away from my face; the rest merely hung off it. For two and a half years, doctors failed to diagnose my problem. My first husband [RJ Hampton, at the time a fellow athlete] tried to help, but it was too much for him. I had to go through that time alone. It was so disillusioning that I refused to go out because my appearance made people look away.

I have a real passion for children. I always wanted to teach and only became an athlete because my parents told my brother Parenthesis (sic) and me that we should use any God-given talent we had. So it made me feel like a leper when, one day in a grocery store, a little girl looked at me, turned to her mother and asked: 'Mommy, what's wrong with that woman? She looks like a monster.'

Finally I was diagnosed with Graves' disease, an illness of the thyroid gland. Instead of surgery, I was given radiation treatment. Now, it would be a pill, but I actually drank radiation. The radiologist said: 'You will feel sick but don't vomit or we'll have to start again. And for the next three weeks stay away from children and use a separate bathroom.' This was when I nearly lost my feet. I woke one day and had a blister on my left foot that was so big I couldn't put my shoe on. The podiatrist said it was not related to my illness, but by the time of my next check-up I was crawling from the bedroom to the bathroom. The radiation had proved too much and my thyroid was almost destroyed. The doctor told me I was lucky to survive.

Now, it seemed, I would pay. I prayed to God: 'Not my feet, please. If you save them, I will use them for however long you wish me to.' I believed it was the devil's work. I said: 'OK, Mr Devil, you can't have my feet.' And a miracle happened. I was given medication and slowly recovered. I began training a month later, in March 1991. Although I'd been away from athletics for two and a half years, I'd kept my strength up by lifting telephone books, which at least kept me mentally focused. By August I was competing in the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, where I won a silver medal in the sprint hurdles.

A year later I was standing on the starting line for the Olympic 100m final in Barcelona. That was a difficult sensation to describe. Nineteen months earlier I had been crawling on my hands and knees. Now, although I was in lane two and no one gave me a chance, I told myself: 'I'm not afraid of anything or anybody. God, let your will be done.' I won the race. I was Olympic champion - and I defended my title four years later at the Atlanta Games of 1996. But winning that first gold was indescribable.

I reached the Olympic 100m hurdles final in Barcelona and Atlanta. In the first of those I tripped after the final hurdle just as I was leading the race [Devers stumbled over the finish line in fourth position]. Was I disappointed? Well, only because statisticians later worked out that I would have set a world record if I'd stayed on my feet. I competed in the Games of 2000 and 2004 as well, even if injury blighted my chances. Looking back, I'm so proud to have gone to five Olympics - I believe only three other Americans have achieved that. My true gold medal, though, is my daughter, Karsen, who is 18 months old. And I have a wonderful husband, Mike. I'd always wanted to be a teacher, and I feel I am now. The world is my classroom - my story can surely help and educate people.

Life facts

Yolanda Gail Devers was born in Seattle in 1966. Her father was a minister, her mother was a teacher and her elder brother Parenthesis is a professional bodybuilder. After recovering from the thyroid condition Graves' disease, she won silver in the 100m hurdles at the 1991 world championships.

She was seen primarily as a hurdler and so was an outsider for the Olympic 100m on the flat in Barcelona, but won the race and, at Atlanta in 1996, she became the first woman to retain the 100m title since 1968. At Atlanta she also won a sprint relay gold. She failed in her two Olympic hurdles finals, but was world champion in 1993 and 1995, then again in 1999, her last major title. She now has her own foundation (gaildevers.com).